Paper guide for the feeding tray of a duplicating machine



H. P. KEIL Dec. 18, 1962 PAPER GUIDE FOR THE FEEDING TRAY OF A. DUPLICATING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet -l INVENTOR.

k uf wi Dec. 18, 1962 KElL 3,069,159

- PAPER GUIDE FOR THE FEEDING TRAY OF A DUPLICATING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 g] 4 6 H a C O O 25 5 I INVENTOR.

Adm/Ry P A/E/L Maw Arr/r Dec. 18, 1962 H. P. KEIL 3,069,159

PAPER GUIDE FOR THE FEEDING TRAY OF A DUPLICATING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 wi iz} 42 3 O ZNVENTOR.

Hum P X E/L ATTjf United States Patent Office 3,069,159 Patented Dec. 18, laez 3,669,159 PAPER GUIDE FUR THE FEEDING TRAY F A DUPLICATING MACHINE Henry P. Keil, Chicago, 111., assignor to Fixture Hardware Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Mar. 7, 1961), Ser. No. 13,052 2 Claims. (Cl. 271-61) This invention relates to a novel paper guide for the feeding tray of a duplicating machine. The use of high speed automatic electric duplicating machines proposes several problems in feeding copy sheets into the machine. A feed tray must be able to accommodate a large number of sheets in order to be practical, since the total output of a machine depends upon both the speed of the machine and the number of times it must sit idle during reloading of the feed tray. The feed tray must hold the copy sheets so that only one sheet will be fed into the machine at a time. It must therefore minimize the frictional contact between sheets while securely gripping all but the top sheet in the stack. It is also desirable to slightly bow each sheet in a longitudinal direction as it is being fed into the machine to add rigidity to the sheet, which is first pulled and then pushed by the feed mechanism.

It is an object of this invention to meet the requirements just stated, using simple guides requiring no accurate adjustment, which are adaptable to present machines.

It is another object of this invention to hold the sheets on the feed tray by means of an end weight having a serrated lower surface which acts as a drag on succeeding copy'sheets when the top sheet is released from its grip.

It is a further object to provide easily accessible means for preventing any gripping by the side by providing a pin as a guide for spring mounted side guides. This pin is adapted to serve a second purpose as a stop to hold the pivotal spring biased guide out of contact with the copy sheets when desired. This feature is also an aid to loading.

It is another object of the invention to utilize springbiased side guides to positively grip the side edges of the copy sheets. The drag exerted on the lower copy sheets is increased by directing the contact edges of the side guides in an inclined direction opposed to the direction of feed.

These and still further objects will 'be evident from a study of the following specification and the enclosed drawings, which show a preferred form of this invention. This specific arrangement is meant to be an example only, and is not intended to limit the invention, which is accurately defined by the claims following the specification.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a duplicating machine equipped with the invention, with a portion of the receiving tray broken away;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an end view of the feed tray shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged side View of the left hand side guide shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a top view of the side guide shown in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged side view of the right hand side guide shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 7 is a top view of the side guide shown in FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary top view of the feed tray showing copy sheets in place; and

FIGURE 9 is an end view of the feed tray as shown in FIGURE 8.

Referrin now to the drawings, the invention is shown applied to a liquid process duplicating machine of the type shown in detail in my United States Patent No. 2,856,847, issued on October 21, 1958. A top view of such a machine is shown in FIGURE 1. The machine comprises two side frames 10 and 11, a rotatable drum 12 which mounts a master sheet, a hinged cover 13, a feed tray generally designated as 14, and a receiving tray 15. In this machine, copy sheets are individually fed from the feed tray 14 by means of two soft rubber rollers 16 which are intermittently driven by the machine at the beginning of each printing cycle. The apparatus by which this motion is obtained is clearly explained in by abovecited patent.

The elements of the feed tray, with which this invention is concerned, are a flat supporting plate 17, a left hand guide 18 (as seen in FIGURE 3) and a right hand guide 20, plus a front end weight 21. The designation of left and right hand sides throughout this specification shall conform to a view of the feed tray as seen in FIG- URE 3. The designation of front and rear of the machine shall follow the flow of paper. As seen in FIG- URE 1, the top portion of the machine is the front, the

bottom portion is the rear.

The feed tray 14 supports a front end weight 21 which is carried by a slidable plate 22. Plate 22 has a horizontal portion 23 which is slidably carried beneath plate 17 by means of an enclosure 24 and a slot 25 cut through the front end of plate 17. Plate 22 may be shifted forward or rearward depending upon the size of the copy sheets being used. The forward end of plate 22 is provided with two vertical portions 26 and 27 which are formed in an inverted U-shaped configuration. The bottom end of the forward vertical portion 27 is provided with a fixed pin 28 which acts as a stop member.

The front end weight 21 is carried by vertical portions 26 and 27 of plate 22. Weight 21 is formed of a solid block 31 having a serrated edge 32 and two side ears 33 between which is mounted a pin 34. Pin 34 is not adjacent to the surfaces of plate 22 so as to allow clearance when the weight 21 is moved over the inverted U-shaped configuration joining vertical portions 26 and 27. Weight 21 in use will rest upon the top copy sheet as shown in FIGURES 8 and 9. When not in use, or during loading of feed tray 14, weight 21 will merely rest upon pin 28, which prevents it from falling off portion 27 when plate 22 is extended forwardly of plate 17.

The left hand side guide 18 consists of a flat base 35 having joined to it a vertical plate 36. Plate 36 mounts a flexible spring guide 37 which is joined to plate 36 in a pivotal fashion by means of a rivet 38. A pin 39 formed on the outer surface of plate 36 normally protrudes through an aperture 40 cut through the spring guide 37. A protruding blade 41 is formed on the inner surface of spring guide 37. Blade 41 is tapered from a maximum width at the top to a minimum at the bottom and is inclined toward the front of guide 18. Spring guide 37 may be forced outwardly against its inherent spring force. By forcing spring guide 37 outwardly and then pivoting it about rivet 38, blade 41 may be maintained beyond the inner surface of plate 36.

The right hand side guide 20 is very similar to the preceding element, but is formed as a mirror image with a straight blade-42, in the place of the tapered blade 41. The remainder of guide 20 is evident from the description of guide 18.

The manner in which the guides 18 and 20 are mounted upon plate 18 is identical. Therefore, the following description of the mounting of left hand side guide 18 shall sufiice as to both guides. The fiat base 35 has two apertures cut through it. These apertures receive two flat headed pins 43 and 44. Pin 43 is merely a guide pin and extends through a transverse slot 45 cut into the flat supporting plate 22 of feed tray 14. The lower portion of pin 43 is capped by a washer 46. Pin 44 is an elongated pin and is capped by a washer 47. It protrudes through a second transverse slot 48 cut into plate 17 and also is received in an angle locking element 50. A rod 51 controls the position of element 50 to lock or release guide 18. Rod 51 is manually set by means of handle 5'2 and may release both guides 18 and 23, or may lock guide 20 above or may lock both guides 18 and 20, depending upon its angular position. The details of this locking mechanism are fully described in my United States Patent No. 2,808,262, issued on October 1, 1957.

The elements of my feed tray guides are thus seen to be relatively simple in construction, yet they are amazingly efficient in practical usage. As seen in FIGURES 8 and 9, a stack of copy sheets 53 are placed on the flat supporting plate 17. During loading the spring guides 37 may be held out of contact with the copy sheets by means of pins 39, and weight 21 may rest on pin 28. This status may be preserved if hand loading is to be used. The plates 36 will then serve as effective guides for the stack of copy sheets 53. For automatic feeding, the serrated edge 32 of weight 21 is placed upon the forward end of the top copy sheet 53, and spring guides 37 are released by allowing pins 39 to protrude through apertures 40. Since the plates 36 are normally positioned adjacent to the side edges of the flat copy sheets 53, the compressive force exerted by blades 41 and 42 due to spring guides 37 tends to bow the copy sheets 53 along a longitudinal plane (see FIGURE 9). Due to the taper of blade 41, this bowed effect is most pronounced at the top of the stack of copy sheets 53 and gradually diminishes toward the bottom of the stack. This variance in the bow of each sheet 53 in relation to adjacent sheets tends to separate the individual sheets. The separation of adjacent sheets enables them to be fed individually by means of rollers 16.

The inclination of blades 41 and 42 toward the front of the machine gives the blades a bite into the side edges of the copy sheets '53 which acts as a drag upon the lower copy sheets to prevent them from being fed into the machine along with the top sheet. This drag is uniform along blade 42 and varies along blade 41 due to its taper. The combination of the inclined blades 41, 42 with one being tapered has been proven to be most effective in practice.

The weight 21 serves to maintain the stack of copy sheets 53. The serrated edge 32 of weight 21 acts as a further drag upon the second copy sheet 53 which the top sheet 53 is being pulled by rollers 16.

The bowing of copy sheets 53 is useful in a secondary manner, since it prevents bending of the paper as its rear edge is being pushed into the machine. The semirigidity of the copy sheet serves to insure its proper entry into the machine rollers.

It can therefore be seen that 1 have devised a simple feed tray guide apparatus which may be adapted to any dr plicating machine by obvious modification. The results of this invention are most useful and are proven to be effective under high-speed automatic Working conditions. The feed tray is easily loaded, with no adjustments being necessary once the guides have been set for a certain size of copy sheets. The exact scope of the invention is defined in the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

1. A guide apparatus for the feed tray of a duplicating machine adapted to hold a stack of copy sheets in preparation for feeding rearwardly into the machine,

comprising a pair of opposed laterally adjustable vertical support members located on each side of the feed tray adapted to abut the lateral sides of a stack of copy sheets, a pair of spring-biased vertical abutments mounted respectively upon each of said support members projecting toward one another adjacent to said support members, each of said abutments including a straight edge adapted to engage the edges of the copy sheets, each of said abutments being inclined angularly toward one another and toward the front of the machine in opposition to the direction of feed of the copy sheets one of said abutments having a tapered width increasing upwardly from a narrow dimension adjacent the feed tray, the feed tray being provided with a slidable tongue mounted for longitudinal motion at the front of the machine, an upwardly directed vertical section bent at the front end of the tongue extending above the feed tray, a weight member slidably mounted upon said vertical section, said weight member having a serrated lower surface adapted to rest upon the top surface of the stack of copy sheets to resist movement of the copy sheet with which it is engaged.

2. A guide apparatus for the feed tray of a duplicating machine adapted to hold a stack of copy sheets in preparation for feeding rearwardly into the machine, comprising a pair of laterally positionable supports each formed with a base adapted to engage the surface of the feed tray, means operatively connected with each base adapted to position it and lock it in place on the feed tray; each support further comprising a vertical backing member integrally joined to its base having an inner vertical surface adjacent a stack of copy sheets on the feed tray and an opposed outer vertical surface, an adjacent leaf spring guide member pivotally joined about a transverse horizontal axis to the outer surface of the backing member at its rearward portion and extending forwardly beyond the front edge of said backing member, and an inwardly directed abutment formed on said leaf spring guide member forward of the backing member; one of said abutments being tapered upwardly, increasing in width from a narrow lower portion, the remaining abutment being of constant Width, each of said abutments being inclined angularly toward one another in vertical planes directed toward the front of the feed tray, the feed tray further being provided with a slidable tongue, mounted for longitudinal motion at the front of the machine, an upwardly directed vertical section bent at the front end of the tongue extending above the feed tray, a weight member slidably mounted upon said vertical section, said weight member having a serrated lower surface adapted to rest upon the top surface of the stack of copy sheets to resist movement of the copy sheet with which it is engaged.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,790,735 Wagner Feb. 3, 1931 2,126,514 Storck et al Aug. 9, 1938 2,233,730 Britton Mar. 4, 1941 2,266,068 Peterson et al Dec. 16, 1941 2,285,224 Nigra et al. June 2, 1942 2,482,058 Gannon Sept. 13, 1949 2,782,580 Iverson Feb. 26, 1957 2,785,893 Ford et al Mar. 19, 1957 2,797,638 Miller July 2, 1957 2,808,262 Keil Oct. 1, 1957 2,827,288 Geisler Mar. 18, 1958 

